ICYMI NC Virus Testing Started Slow, Pace Gradually Catching Up To National Average

July 17, 2020
For Immediate Release

Raleigh NC- The NC Watchdog Reporting Network reported that North Carolina’s COVID-19 testing lagged significantly behind other states and still has not caught up to the national average in regards to COVID-19 testing. These new revelations explain why Governor Roy Cooper dragged his feet regarding testing North Carolina’s most vulnerable populations in nursing homes and why he still does not have a plan to protect nursing home residents and long term care facilities proactively. It is alarming that 129 days since Governor Cooper declared a state of emergency in North Carolina over COVID-19, he still does not have a proactive plan to protect the most vulnerable.

Click here to read the full article just released today.

Here are some key experts from the article released yesterday. 

Compared to the rest of the country, North Carolina has consistently been at the middle or bottom in terms of per-capita testing, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project. And the state spent five weeks — from April 14 through May 22 — in the bottom quarter for per-capita testing; hitting as low as 45 out of 50 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico.

In an interview, Cohen downplayed the importance of testing as just one tool in a larger strategy to combat the virus. “Our bigger effort is way bigger than testing, right?,” Cohen said. “It is on prevention and really focusing on that. Testing is one piece. Tracing is another. Supported isolation is a fourth. So it is really a comprehensive look at all of that.” Cohen said the state was initially held back from ramping up testing by a shortage of supplies — everything from the physical equipment needed to gather samples to the chemicals needed to process the tests.

Months later, on June 23, DHHS circulated a draft testing plan that set a goal of testing 40,000 people a day. Data that DHHS has posted on its COVID-19 dashboard shows the state is still well short of that goal, testing about 27,000 people a day on average over the last seven days.

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